Rev Stan's film blog

Review: Brendan Gleeson in Calvary

Synopsis: An Irish priest trying to do the right thing by his rural parish community receives a death threat.

Stan's thoughts: Described as a black comedy this is actually darker than it is amusing but that isn't criticism. Calvary is an interesting film that plays against the prejudices of current stereotypes of child abusing Catholic priests.

Father James Lavelle (Gleeson) is trying to do the right thing by his parish. He is called upon to act as social worker, law enforcer and carer while simultaneously being ridiculed, teased and goaded by the people for whom he works.

Calvary is at times a meditation on the role of priests in modern society, a revenge thriller and a tragedy. A film that is sharp and melancholic with an occasional bitter ironic humour, it wasn't what I expected by I really enjoyed it.

Ratings

• Stan’s 79%
• IMDB 79%
• Metascore 91%
• Rotten Tomatoes 90%
• RT Audience Rating 86%

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Review: Scarlett Johansson freezes in Scotland - Under The Skin

Synopsis: An alien (Scarlett Johansson) preys on lone men.

Stan's thoughts: This film has been getting critics all in a lather. The poster is awash with stars and references to director Jonathan Glazer being 'the new Kubrick'. I don't know about the latter but it is certainly a work of exceptional and unique vision and tone.

This isn't a sci-fi like you'll have seen before. What is alien is the melding of more abstract scenes with Johansson's improvised encounters with real men. Johansson drives around in a van trying to entice men in, usually under the guise of needing directions. She has a quietly erotic charm but there is a distance that is also disarming. There is a sense of danger about her but it is so, so subtle than you wonder if the men she encounters feel it as much as the informed audience does.

There is also a growing sense of danger for her, that she could easily be eliminated by some greater force, particularly as she starts to develop a hint of human emotion. It is all underpinned by a searing score that gives me the willies just watching the trailer

It's mainly shot in Glasgow and Scotland and certainly not an advert for tourism but still succeeds in showing the delicate balance between happiness and loneliness in humanity. The Glasgow on film is a no make-up, warts and all version, as are the people you see in the streets. Just ordinary people. But amid the loners there are plenty out enjoying themselves, a sense of companionship, however crude, amid the ugliness.

When the action moves to the countryside it is always raining or about to and looks freezing. The sweeping landscape is desolate, damp and cold, the tiny hint of warmth comes from the alien's subtle epiphany.

Kudos to Glazer for getting Scarlett Johansson on board and kudos to her for agreeing and giving such a strikingly different performance (and enduring the cold because she must have been freezing the entire time). If this is what she can do in between comic book action movies then she is certainly an actress to watch.

This is far from a mainstream film. It is challenging to watch but I haven't walked out of cinema shaking for a long, long time and it's stayed with me.

Ratings

• Stan's: 89%
• IMDB: 72%
• Metascore: 78%
• Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
• RT audience rating: 65%

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Review: Ben Whishaw in Lilting - additional thoughts after second screening

Synopsis: Junn (Cheng Pei-Pei)  is left grieving and isolated as a non-English speaking resident in an assisted living facility after the sudden death of her son Kai (Andrew Leung). When Kai's 'close friend' Richard (Ben Whishaw) comes to visit she has to confront the truth about her son and her relationship with him.

Stan's thoughts: Writer/director Hong Khaou's feature length debut is a gentle and tender piece about love and loss. It also has a good dose of lighter humourous moment and while there is much to like about it and it is a solid enough piece of work its flaws are difficult to ignore.

Firstly the good. Pei-Pei and Ben's performances are knock-out, almost to the point of being too good for the material. Language is the barrier between the two and while many of their exchanges are through an interpreter, which can be quite distancing, it is their non-verbal performances that speak volumes. Ultimately it is what isn't said but what is felt that unites them.

Flashbacks are well used, both real and imagined scenarios between June and her son and Richard and his lover. And Khaou introduces some laugh out loud light relief through a developing relationship between Junn and a fellow resident Alan played by (Peter Bowles) although that did feel a little forced at times.

Richard and Kai make for an adorable if slightly too perfect couple which serves well to crank up the emotional tug. Ben shows what a master he is, once again, in snot crying - someone really should give his character a hankie. Watching as a stifled sob catches in his throat certainly had me reaching for my pocket tissues.

It is always a joy to see Ben on screen but even his uber-talents couldn't disguise the occasionally clunky script and direction. On the one hand Lilting feels a little stretched and it is only 84 minutes long. On the other, spending that time with the characters in such an intimate and emotional story I still didn't feel like I'd quite got to know them well enough to understand their motivations and as a result some of the plot points felt a little contrived.

So to sum up, Ben Whishaw is very, very good in it but it isn't close to being my favourite piece of work by him.

* I've seen the film a second time since I wrote this review and most of my comments still stand. There are two or three scenes which didn't work for me - mainly those involving conflict/argument which felt forced and a bit out of character.

There is still a problem with understanding the motivations but otherwise this oozes with emotional intensity that is even more affecting on second viewing. It is also has some lovely humourous moments (some lighter moments for Ben too) and it was nice to be in a screening of mandarin speakers who were getting the jokes before us English speakers got the translation.

I've been scouting around for reviews to see what others think and they are mixed ranging from two to four stars and I feel my original score should remain which puts me in the middle of the pack.*

 

Ratings*

• Stan's: 59%
• IMDB: 80%
• Metascore: Not yet rated
• Rotten Tomatoes: No consensus
• RT audience rating: Not yet rated

* Lilting is only playing film festivals and not on general release (in the UK) until June so reviews and ratings are still few and far between.

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Review: Was Ben Whishaw's hair the best thing in The Zero Theorum?

Synopsis: Qohen Leth is an unsociable number cruncher working for The Management, he feels nothing other than the wait for 'the call'.

Stan's thoughts: It's funny I just read the IMDB synopsis for Zero Theorum and it's like reading about a different film but then this is an absurdis, existential drama from which you can draw any number of conclusions.

First and foremost I probably wouldn't have seen it had Ben Whishaw not been making a cameo but I am sort of glad I did because it wasn't quite the pretentious, arty-farty nonsense I thought it looked from the trailers.

Ben Whishaw does have remarkable hair - David Thewlis who plays Joby said that during filming they would throw stuff at it, sort of like a hoopla - but his appearance is fleeting.

This is a film that is high on ideas and theories snuggled around a sort plot about Leth trying to work out why he exists. He feels insignificant in the grand scheme of things, a microscopic cog in a great machine but can't accept that his life has no greater meaning.

The irony is that in waiting for 'the call', which he believes will reveal the reason for his existence, he has in fact rendered his life meaningless. He closets himself away, doesn't like other people or enjoy anything or allow himself to enjoy anything. There are religious undertones, naturally, and depending on where you stand on the faith spectrum you will draw different conclusions.

He is given an impossible project to work on, of course, that has sent others mad and  is distracted from his work by Bainsley (Michelle Thierry) who creates a fantasy world for him to retreat into, Bob (Lucas Hedges) The Management's whizz kid son and his therapist Dr Shrink-rom (Tilda Swinton).

The conclusion of the story is typically open for interpretation but I found it satisfying and surprisingly straight forward.

The visualisation of the futuristic world of Qohen is stunning - like a cross between Bladerunner and the Capital in The Hunger Games - and it is certainly a film that made me think a lot both while I was watching and subsequently. The actors all look like they are having fun too - I particularly loved Tilda Swinton as the toothy Scottish therapist.

Ben Whishaw's hair wasn't the best thing in Zero Theorum, it is quirky and different film that won't have wide appeal but I found it a fulfilling if a sometimes frustrating cinema experience.

Ratings

• Stan's: 64%
• IMDB: 68%
• Metascore: 51%
• Rotten Tomatoes: 53% 
• RT audience rating: 54%

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Review: Did The Book Thief live up to the book?

Synopsis: Based on the best selling Marcus Zusak book it follows the story of Liesel who finds solace in 'borrowing' books and sharing them with the Jewish man her adoptive family are hiding in the basement in second world war rural Germany.

Stan's thoughts: Always slightly nervous of adaptations of book I love and this one seemed to have captured the essence of what I loved about Liesel's story. Sophie Nelisse as Liesel is key. She is a magnetic presence on screen and gives a beautifully understated performance. 

A film is never going to get under the skin in quite the same way a book can and there was something missing which I can't quite put my finger on but it succeeded in moving me to tears so thumbs up for that.

Ratings

• Stan's: 70%
• IMDB: 70%
• Metascore: 53%
• Rotten Tomatoes: 46% 
• RT audience rating: 76%

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Review: Only Lovers Left Alive with Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston

Synopsis: The story of two vampire lovers, who've been together for hundreds of years, trying to survive undetected in the modern world.

Stan's thoughts: Expectations were high for this one - Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton as vampire lovers Adam and Eve? What better pairing is there? And with Mia Wasikowska as Eve's irresponsible sister and John Hurt as fellow vampire Marlowe it ticked lots of boxes. And it didn't disappoint, I loved it.

Hiddleston and Swinton are intoxicating to watch as the lovers who've spent so long together and for whom time swings to a different pendulum. They don't rush in anything they do or say - just the occasional glimpse of vampire speed when necessity dictates - and why should they? They have all the time in the world which is why they live apart in different countries for periods and get married to each other regularly.

Time has allowed them to really appreciate the world around them whether it is nature, art, literature or music. There is an irony in that though not technically living they have a heightened appreciation of what is alive, vibrant and culturally rich about mankind.

They've adapted to the modern world, use the same technology as humans but are equally affected by the changing environment. Human blood is becoming polluted and there is a constant search for "the good stuff" which is pure and doesn't have any adverse affects to their health. They have evolved as vampires and avoid killing for blood instead negotiate deals with workers at hospitals using cash as an incentive rather than terror.

Only Lovers Left Alive oozes slowly and languidly like thick honey dripping off a spoon and yet it also has an arch and knowing humour. The vampire's attraction to art and literature has long been a feature in how they live and and the film is weaved with literary references. Marlowe, for instance, is one Christopher Marlowe who, not having been murdered as a young man after all, ended up writing Shakespeare's best work.

Hiddleston and Swinton inject an air of familiarity and ease into to Adam and Eve while maintaining a magnetic mystery and aloofness that is very much part of their charm.

It has been suggested that this film is a little pretentious but I think Jim Jarmusch who wrote and directed had his tongue firmly in his cheek. I liked spending time with Adam and Eve, they made me smile and made me laugh and this will certainly be a film going into my DVD collection.

Ratings

• Stan's: 80%
• IMDB: 76%
• Metascore: 73%
• Rotten Tomatoes: 84% 
• RT audience rating: 80%

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Review: The Oscar-worthy Nebraska

Synopsis: Alcoholic old man Woody (Bruce Dern) who also suffers from dementia thinks he's won a million in a marketing raffle and insists on travelling across country to claim his prize. Unable to persuade his father it is a scam his son David (Will Forte) decides to humour him and drive him to Nebraska.

Stan's thoughts: So glad I decided to see this because I nearly decided against it and it is such a brilliantly funny, warm and moving film.

You share the frustration David feels about his father's single-mindedness and cerebral impairment while loving him all the same. This is a father-son journey of rediscovery via Woody's past in the town he grew up in.

Simply and quietly shot in black and white and against a backdrop of recession hit small town America this is full of perfectly pitched performances, with characters delightful in their ordinariness. It is the antithesis of other Oscar contenders The Wolf of Wall Street and American Hustle.

Bruce Dern should win the Oscar he's been shortlisted for but he probably won't. If you can catch it, you should because it is perfectly lovely film and will leave you feeling warm and maybe a little sentimental.

Ratings

• Stan's: 86%
• IMDB: 81%
• Metascore: 86%
• Rotten Tomatoes: 91% 
• RT audience rating: 88%

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Review: Joseph Gordon-Levitt writes, directs and stars in Don Jon

Synopsis: Jon (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is addicted to porn and one night stands then he falls in love with Barbara (Scarlett Johansson) who obsessed with romantic films.

Stan's thoughts: Although the rapid cycle through porn montages skates close to being overkill/gratuitous underneath this is an interesting character piece. Although it comes down, in a mild way, as anti-porn where it is interesting is in what it says about Jon and the type of person he is and relationship he wants or is capable of having.

His is an interesting and often amusing journey of self discovery helped in a big way when he meets older woman Esther (Julianne Moore) who unlocks a few home truths.

The morals of the tale aren't necessarily as black and white as you'd imagine and that too makes it an interesting watch. Scarlett Johansson is brilliant, oozing an almost Jessica Rabbit-style sassy sex appeal that has Jon following her like a puppy but, like the symbolic red dress she wears when they first meet,  she is dangerously flawed in her own way. 

Ratings

• Stan's: 65%
• IMDB: 71%
• Metascore: 66%
• Rotten Tomatoes: 81% 
• RT audience rating: 68%

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Review: Kill Your Darlings and the Daniel Radcliffe effect

Synopsis: How a murder brought the 1950s beat poets - Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs together.

Stan's thoughts:  Radcliffe puts in a good performance as the geeky Ginsberg who has his head turned by the charismatic Lucien Carr (play superbly by rising star Dane DeHaan). And it is a solid film and entertaining enough but Radcliffe's presence is a little bit of a distraction. It isn't entirely his fault.

He constantly chooses parts that are far removed from the Harry Potter franchise which is to be greatly admired and makes him an interesting actor to follow but it is a difficult character to shake off after a decade.

That there are gay love scenes involving Radcliffe in this film has been written about to death and I'm in the 'so what' camp but it's almost like the audience (ie slightly hysterical female Radcliffe fans) held their breath until the kissing and sex is out of the way.

He can't be blamed for that and Radcliffe is a solid enough actor but he doesn't quite push the performance in this to a level where you'd forget he was Harry Potter (the glasses didn't help). Kill Your Darlings is nicely paced and interesting enough character-led film. It's told from Ginsberg's perspective and it made me curious about the other view points.

The screening of Kill Your Darlings I saw was part of the London Film Festival and the film goes on general release in the UK on December 6.

Ratings

• Stan's: 62%
• IMDB: 69%
• Metascore: 64%
• Rotten Tomatoes: 72% 
• RT audience rating: Not yet rated

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Review: Sunshine On Leith or did Stan like a musical?

Synopsis: This is a juke box musical using songs by The Proclaimers - Two squaddies return home after a tour in Afghanistan and start to build their new life and find love on civvy street.

Stan's thoughts: Anyone who reads my theatre blog will know that I don't like musicals but I think it's important to test out my prejudice every now again and the cinema is cheaper than the theatre.

I decided to give this particular one a go after hearing an interview with director Dexter Fletcher on Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo's Radio 5 film show. Aside from the great cast (Jane Horrocks, Jason Flemyng, Peter Mullan etc) he talked about the finale which ended up as a flash mob.

And that's the only bit I actually liked. I'm not going to lie, I did nearly walk out but the prospect of the flash mob gave me something to cling to.